


Listen

by FawkesFire13



Category: Midnight Poppy Land (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:28:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26096362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FawkesFire13/pseuds/FawkesFire13
Summary: Poppy has a bad day and just needs someone to listen to her. Tora learns to listen.
Relationships: Tora/Poppy
Comments: 24
Kudos: 152





	Listen

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a random story, loosely based off of conversations I’ve had with my boyfriend. Sometimes when you’re new to a relationship, the important part is listening. It’s also important to realize you might not have all the answers....and that’s okay too. 
> 
> As always, all characters belong to Lilydusk. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Tora cradled Poppy carefully in his lap and let her cry.

Today had been a bad day, as far as he could gather, considering she had stormed back into the apartment, flushed and looking as if she wanted to punch someone or something.

Frankly, he had thought she looked gorgeous in her flustered state and nearly said it out loud, but stopped when he caught the glassy look of tears in her eyes.

She had flung her work bag onto the kitchen counter and crossed her arms over her chest. Tora had been playing a video game and looked up, surprised when Poppy had thrown the apartment door open. 

“Bobby?” He stood up quickly, walking over to his shaking girlfriend. She had stubbornly refused to look at him and for a moment he thought he had done something wrong. Did he water the plants like she asked him to? Did he forget to throw his socks into the hamper? He stopped that train of thought quickly.

Poppy wasn’t a petty person in general. She didn’t do the passive aggressive thing, and if she needed him to do something, she told him. Tora was still learning to voice things at times. He was used to being on his own, so....co-habiting was difficult. Poppy was a tiny spit fire and he loved that about her, but she had just been at work today and he had no frame of reference for what was making her this upset.

“Poppy? What is it?” He asked carefully. This felt strange, being on this side of distress. Normally he was the one who refused to talk, to say what he was thinking. That had been a behavior pounded into him none too gently through his childhood.

Poppy’s lower lip trembled once and Tora reached out carefully, and touched her shoulder.

“Talk with me?” She had used that exact sentence on him three weeks ago, when he had woken from a nightmare, sweating and confused. That had been hard to explain, especially since he woke up ready to fight. Her gentle voice had calmed him within seconds. 

“I’m here, sweetheart.” Tora looked down at her, worried. Poppy glanced up at him, and he watched as the tears spilled over.

She had told him once she cried easily. So Tora stood with his arms around her in the kitchen as she sobbed into his stomach, and he rubbed her back gently. Her sobs had increased in volume and Tora began recognizing the signs of a fit probably brought on by stress.

Quincey has done something similar, early on in his writing gig, when he’d been rejected by the 8th publishing house in a row and had gotten into a particularly loud shouting match with Vincent. That same day the dry cleaners had ruined a leather jacket of his as well, and the coffee house didn’t have the blend he wanted. Quincey had come back to the penthouse and bawled, while holding a ticket in his hand. He had been caught speeding about 40mph over the speed limit. It was around that time Tora had started driving Quincey around. 

Tora remembered his friend’s break down from that day. The same broken, pent up sobs. Tora frowned. She had seemed fine the past few days. What had he missed?

“S’okay, baby.....let it out.” He murmured softly. Poppy’s distressed sounds had picked up sharply, as if his words gave permission for the floodgates to open. Her body shook and he had let her cry until he felt her tears through his shirt.

Okay. This was a bit more serious than he thought. He knelt down slightly, and looked her in the eyes. Poppy’s face scrunched up as another round of sobs shook her. 

“Come on, let’s sit down.” He had done the thing he knew she liked, and picked her up as if she weighed nothing, which to him, she really didn’t. The sobbing stopped for a second, but resumed within moments as he made his way over to the couch and sat down, cradling her comfortably in his lap.

Tora rubbed her back gently, muttering nonsense into her ears, waiting it out. He supposed sometimes you just had to get it out. He normally took care of his voiceless emotions by throwing himself into the gym and burning off any energy he had left. It helped him sleep most nights, being too exhausted physically to stay awake and ponder his sins. Poppy didn’t do that. She cried.

Finally, about five minutes later the crying slowed and Tora waited to see what she would do. The sniffles came next and Poppy buried her face into the crook of his neck, clearly not ready to talk just yet. He was silent, wanting to sooth her, but not knowing yet what to do.

Finally Poppy took a deep breath and let it out in a slow exhale. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked quietly. 

“I’m okay.” Poppy answered softly, automatically. 

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’re not okay, seeing as my shirt is soaked.” Tora whispered carefully. “What happened?”

Poppy was silent for a couple minutes. 

“Lots of little things.” She finally answered. Tora shifted slightly. 

“Anything I did?” He asked. There had been quite a bit of adjustment early into moving in with her. He was used to being alone with his thoughts, Poppy wanted to understand him and well.....he wasn’t used to her probing, even if it was well meaning. Not that he’d ever really snapped. It was just....

Like trying to twist the lid off a stubborn jar. It took work and a little cleverness when brute strength failed. Sometimes you had to run hot water over it and do some carefully tapping to loosen it first. He had been trying to work on that. So it was a relief when Poppy shook her head.

“No. Just....work stuff.” Tora frowned, gently brushing some stray hairs from her face, out of her eyes.

“Quincey being demanding?” He asked. “I can take care of that.” He’d go beat down Quincey’s penthouse door if he had made Poppy cry.

“No. Just....” Poppy wiped her eyes quickly and gave him a sad smile. “This is going to seem silly, but it’s just....a lot more work lately.”

“Like what?” He asked, concerned. If he was honest he didn’t know a lot about her job. He listened to Quincey describe what she did a bit and he listened to her too, of course. But that stuff just wasn’t his strong point. Seemed like she did a bit of everything. He knew she wrote a lot, edited things and helped organize things. Quincey had told him twice that she was absolutely ruthless when she wanted something. Tora had smiled proudly, he’d known that for the first time they spoke to each other. 

“Well, ever since we signed Quincey on, we’ve gotten a bit more attention.” She explained. “It’s not every day a tiny publishing house lands someone like him. So there’s more manuscripts coming in. Lots of possible clients calling. Erdene is working overtime almost every day and so is Jacob. I am too, but mostly with Quincey. Which is fine!” Poppy added anxiously at Tora’s narrowed eyes. “I really enjoy working with him. But that’s in addition to what I’d normally be doing.”

“I can read with him some nights.” Tora offered. “Used to do that all the time.”

“Thank you, Tora, but as his editor now, it’ll just make it easier if I do it. But Quincey isn’t the problem, it’s just everything else flooding in....” Poppy said sadly. “I just have been feeling overwhelmed and I don’t want to ask for too much....” 

“Bobby, if ya need to take a break once in a while...”

“But that’s just it. Everyone in the office needs a break and I’d feel guilty if I was complaining when everyone else is putting in a ton of work.”

Tora frowned. He could understand that, but Poppy was his priority, and everyone else was secondary in his brain, her well being and happiness came first before all others. 

“Is there something I can do to help?” He offered. Poppy looked at him carefully, her brown eyes searching his face, as of trying to decide what level of “help” he was offering. Tora grinned. For Poppy there really wasn’t a limit. Anything from body disposal to car rides, he was down for pretty much anything. She had yet to take him up on body disposal and he doubted that request would ever come, but the offer always was there. But Tora was a man of action. He could find solutions to problems rather easily, given that he wasn’t constrained by little annoyances like legalities.

“I don’t think so, Tora.” Poppy sighed. He felt her body slump just a bit, leaning into him more. He would never get over how her tiny, curvy, soft body seemed to fit against his angles so perfectly. For a while they sat in silence, Tora just allowing her the time she needed to calm down. Poppy wiped her eyes and sniffled. 

“Anything else?” He asked after a while. “You said it’s was a lot of little things.”

“I know this is stupid, but I spilled my iced coffee on my shoes and some of my paperwork today.” Poppy sighed. “It made a mess and now my shoes smell gross.”

Tora blinked. Well, okay.....

“Sweetheart, I can go and buy you new shoes tonight. Just let me look at the old ones and I’ll have them before you go to sleep.”

“It’s not just that.” Poppy explained. “When I spilled the coffee, I got frustrated and yelled at Jacob when he tried to help. I just got overwhelmed. Then Jacob snapped at me and didn’t talk to me the rest of the day. I don’t blame him. I was mean.”

Tora frowned. He wasn’t exactly a fan of Jacob’s but Poppy seemed to like her co-worker. He doubted suggesting that he break the guy’s fingers would go over well. And that would be overkill on his part....he could remove some fingernails....

“Well, ya know what I’d suggest.” He replied with a light chuckle. Poppy snorted and rolled her eyes. 

“No, Mister “Lethal Weapon.” I don’t need you damaging Jacob. Then we would have to hire someone else to take his place and that would make things even more busy.....and I’d probably have to train that person too....”

“I’m sure I could convince Gyu to take over whatever it is Jacob does.” Tora offered. “He’d probably be good at whatever it is....” Poppy laughed softly. 

“I’m sure he could do it too, but no.” Tora smiled just a bit, stroking her back gently. He didn’t mind having her tiny frame curled against his own. He didn’t know for certain what he could do in this situation. Poppy’s fingers traced the petals of his peonies on his arm. He relaxed into her featherlight touch. 

“I miss Moon Bright.” Poppy added suddenly. Tora froze. Shit.

Shitshitshit.

Fuck.

Did she want to move back to Moon Bright? He didn’t know what to do if that was the case. Did she wanna commute back and forth between Narin and her old home?

“Did.....do you wanna move back?” He asked, a knot twisting in his gut.

“Oh God, no.” Poppy sputtered. “I just mean....Narin is so big sometimes. Sometimes I just wish it was quieter. Less....loud. Slower. Does that make sense?”

Tora thought about it. He’d grown up in Narin. It always seemed the same to him. But he tried to remember Moon Bright. Sleepy little countryside town with a lot more trees. It would make sense that Poppy had grow into the person she was in a place like that. Gentle, hopeful and soft.

Narin wasn’t really any of those things. Narin was huge, dangerous and crawling with people like him. For a moment he felt....incredibly guilty for something. He couldn’t exactly place a finger on it. Alice had once told him she didn’t like cut flowers because it meant someone had killed something beautiful just to hold it. It’s why she had live plants in a small garden.

Maybe that’s why Poppy has so many potted plants all over this apartment.

Tora shifted and brought Poppy closer to him, feeling like he had carelessly plucked a wild flower. 

“Maybe ya can go back to visit?” He asked. “I’ll let ya take my car.” Poppy frowned, looking at him.

“You don’t want to come with me to visit? You still have to meet my Granny.” She pointed out. “She’ll be so mad if I don’t bring you over so she can try and stuff a bunch of food into you.”

“Don’t know if I can handle 25 pounds of brownies.” Tora answered, a smirk on his face. “If I get much rounder I’ll never be able to run when the cops show up.” He joked. “I’ll have to roll away and hope that’ll work.”

“Granny cooks real food too, you know.” Poppy laughed. “She makes a really good spaghetti.”

“Well, in that case, why don’t we try and head over to visit her sometime soon?” Tora asked, feeling immensely pleased that she still wanted to live in Narin. Poppy nodded, still clearly dealing with something.

“So, just making sure I’ve got this right. Work’s been stressful, you need new shoes and to apologize to Jacob, and you wanna go see your granny?” Tora asked softly. “I can take care of the shoes. I can still talk to Quincey if you change your mind. I can scare Jacob.....What else can I do for you?” He added. 

Poppy finally let her body slump. He felt her weight relax against him. Tora waited for her to talk. Relationships were....complicated to him sometimes. He knew how he felt about Poppy, and he felt he knew what she thought about him. But talking things out....

It wasn’t easy. 

Especially when she was having moments like this. Where he wasn’t sure how to fix everything.

His answers would have involved rope, a few bricks and a river. But that....

Wasn’t what would help here. He knew that. He did. But it still wasn’t easy sitting here waiting to see if he could help or fix something.

Poppy snuggled in closer.

“Just.....you think we can just sit here a while?” Poppy asked quietly. “Sometimes it just feels nice. I just want to be held.”

Tora blinked. 

He had been asked and commanded to do....unspeakable things in his 28 years. Sometimes it felt like the blood would never come off completely. He was a tool. A weapon. A consequence of a action in some poor idiot’s life. 

The Tiger of Ares Street, the shadow that lurked and destroyed anything he touched. 

He’d never been asked to simply.....hold someone. Tora wrapped his arms around Poppy and cradled the back of her head to his shoulder. 

“Yeah....I can do that, sweetheart.” He murmured. Poppy yawned and settled herself, Tora loosening his hold on her just enough to let her get comfortable. Then she closed her eyes. 

“Sometimes....I wonder if I made a huge mistake.” Poppy said after a few minutes. “Leaving Moon Bright to come work in Narin. I feel like I’m in over my head sometimes. Like I had a whole plan worked out in my head how things would be.”

“Yeah? What was that going to be like?” Tora asked, curious what this little hamster could be regretting.

Poppy was silent, thinking. Tora waited. 

“I guess I just thought it was be easier. Clearer. I’d have more answers.”

Tora considered this. Well, he didn’t have all the answers to really anything. He was still trying to work on his plans...

“I think you’re doing a good job.” He offered. “I don’t know how much it’s worth, but ya seem to have your life....organized.”

Poppy looked at him curiously, her red rimmed eyes looking into his. 

“You think so? I feel like I don’t.”

“Bobby, I don’t think ya need to have everything figured out right now. Give yourself some credit.” Tora smiled. “You got it more together than I do.”

Poppy smirked. 

“I don’t know about that sometimes.....” she laughed. 

Tora smiled, glad to see her tears drying. She seemed....better. But he felt like he wasn’t doing enough. This was Poppy. His Bobby. Shouldn’t he be able to fix the things she needed fixed? Make sure she didn’t come back to the apartment in tears? Something in his face must have given away his thoughts.

“Tora....I’m glad you’re here. I really needed someone to listen to me.” 

“I can always do that, Poppy.”

“And it does help having the man that I love sit down with me and let me talk.” Poppy added. “Also helps that you have these nice , sexy arms too.”

Tora quirked a eyebrow at her.

“Oh yeah? The arms are what does it for you?” He asked, feigning innocence. 

“You have such a dirty mind.” Poppy grinned. 

“Filthy.” Tora agreed. Poppy rolled her eyes, but planted a kiss on his nose, making him blink.

“Thank you, Tora. I....” she paused, thinking carefully. “I used to feel lonely coming back to the apartment on days like today. But....it feels so much nicer coming home to you.”

“Feels nice being home, sweetheart.”


End file.
